Each year around the holidays, LEGO launches their Build to Give campaign where they invite everyone to build a holiday decoration out of their favorite plastic bricks and post the creation online for all to see. For each creation posted using #BuildToGive, LEGO donates a set to a child in need through their many charity partners across the globe including Fairy Bricks, up to 1.5 million kids.

In the past, LEGO encouraged people to build tree ornaments or other holiday-themed items. Last year there was a snowstorm of all the fun decorations and yours truly whipped up this oversized snowflake for the occasion.

This year, however, the Build to Give campaign is a bit more challenging. LEGO has asked everyone to build a star. Yep, that is right a simple star. Or is it?

A star is actually a bit more complex when you think of the geometry. LEGO is great at right angles. LEGO is great at achieving symmetry. Do you know what LEGO isn’t that good at from first glance? Odd angles like those found in a five-pointed star! This is why it seems like the perfect challenge to get people to think outside the box a bit and see what they can do—all for a good cause.

Luckily, the company seems to know that this might be a challenge, so LEGO Art Director Patrick Hansen was able to lay out a few tips for us.

Be Creative

“A star is a great choice for a LEGO build, because everyone knows the shape, and so everyone should know how to build one. But it’s also a tricky shape, especially to recreate with LEGO bricks. Simply because a classic star has five points, and a LEGO brick only has four corners. That’s where you need to start being creative. Take all your random LEGO pieces and ignore what they actually are and instead focus on their shape. For example, a croissant piece can be perfect if you need a semicircle, or you could even use a horse as the base of your star!”

Make It Sturdy

“While you might be able to build a star, in order for it to be a proper holiday ornament that you might hang from somewhere, it needs to be sturdy, which is where the challenge comes in. A lot of people make the mistake of making their builds too complicated, too early. Think back to when you were a young child and you were asked to make or draw something. You’d focus on the basics and it would be really easy to recognize. Like, if you drew a house as a kid, it would just be a square and a triangle, and everyone would know what it was. So think like a kid when you start building, and then you can get more creative as you get more confident.”

Make It Stand Out

“Making things stand out isn’t always about making them big. In fact, sometimes it can be easier to build stuff bigger – the real skill is often in making things smaller. Plus, when you’re making holiday ornaments, making them teeny-tiny makes them easier to hang up! Of course, you should use lots of bright colors, which will really help to make them stand out if you hang them in trees. And if you want to hang them up, think about that when you are building. If you are building a big star, then you might want to build in two holes for the string to loop through, so it doesn’t become imbalanced. And finally, transparent LEGO elements (like those small, circular 1x1 studs) are perfect if you want to add gemstones to your stars, to give them that little bit extra sparkle!”

The Stars Are Out

I took a quick look to see some of the early stars that have already been posted online and quite a few caught my eye! It seems that LEGO builders have taken up the star challenge with enthusiasm. From creative flowers to simple bracelets, these people have used just about every known tool and technique to build impressive stars: SNOT work, mosaics, Technic, digital renders, abstract art, spherified builds, color blocking, negative space, transparency and character work are all utilized. See if you can find each of the techniques below!

Thors Steine

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Stewart Cromar

Wei Wei Gluckman

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Deep Shen

BrickinNick

reddsbricks

Kristel Whitaker

John B Toys

Łukasz Alagierski

Jeffy O

Marvellous Bricks

Artisan Bricks

Gary Davis

Koen Zwanenburg

picea74

Bethany Srivastava

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We are happy to see that there are quite a few friends of BrickNerd represented in the starfield above, including Deep Shen, Stewart Cromar, Gary Davis and more—with hopefully many more to come. So what are you waiting for? Go build a star to help make a difference!

How would you build a star out of LEGO? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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